Rau'shee Warren defeated in first round again

By Joe Rexrode, USA TODAY

Updated

LONDON
–
Rau'shee Warren is done with the Olympics after three tries and three first-round defeats. So is all but one member of the 2012 U.S. boxing team who remains alive only after a questionable judging decision was overturned on appeal.

By Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports

Rau'shee Warren, right reacts after losing to France's Nordine Oubaali on Friday.

Rau'shee Warren, right reacts after losing to France's Nordine Oubaali on Friday.

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As Warren — the only three-time boxing Olympian in U.S. history — acknowledged after his 19-18 flyweight preliminary loss to Nordine Oubaali on Friday at the ExCeL Centre, something needs to change in the U.S. boxing program.

"That's something people back in Colorado have got to figure out, what they want to do with the team," the Cincinnati product said of USA Boxing headquarters in Colorado Springs, while announcing that he will turn pro.

As for his own failures to advance in his third attempt, Warren said he thought he won the fight, questioned the judging and said his contacts fell out — making Oubaali "blurry" at times.

But he also conceded that he made tactical errors in a bout that saw Oubaali fight with much more aggression and accuracy.

"After the first round, my coaches were telling me to settle down on some of my shots," Warren said. "Not completely settle down, but work off the jab, throw the combinations. So I was kind of just flicking the jab and just trying to deliver one shot, instead of two, three, four shots.

"And I guess that's why he was more aggressive and I was just trying to land my shots and trying to deliver them with power."

It was a very different scene in Beijing in 2008, when Warren thought he had South Korea's Lee Ok-Sun beat, played it safe late and ended up losing. Warren was devastated after that decision.

"I felt like I won that," he said. "I felt like I did enough to win. This one, I put a lot of that on my shoulders. I was not landing my combinations, just trying to deliver big shots."

Oubaali landed much more of those after a 9-6 first-round win for Warren. The 19-18 final was closer than it appeared for much of the bout.

"I had passion," Oubaali said through an interpreter. "I really, really went for it, and that is why I won."

As a 17-year-old in Athens in 2004, Warren was the youngest male athlete from the USA. He lost to Zou Shiming of China in the first round, stayed amateur and won gold at flyweightin the world championships in 2007.

Then came Beijing, after which Warren turned down several offers to go pro — in large part because he wanted redemption.

He was able to earn money fighting in the World Series of Boxing while staying eligible for the Olympics. Now he'll see if he can fare better as a professional.

"This ain't the end of Rau'shee Warren," he said. "My journey will continue. … It ain't really no setback for me. I've still got a lot of stuff planned ahead. I'm going to put this behind me, learn from it."